Posted on 05/27/2007 7:16:59 PM PDT by Coleus
State Supreme Court Justice Roberto A. Rivera-Soto on Friday denied misusing his position to assist his son in a dispute with another teen on their high school football team. Rivera-Soto "insisted at all times that (the) matter be treated in the ordinary course," according to a legal brief filed in response to an ethics complaint brought against him May 11.
"His intent at all times was to avoid any appearance of impropriety," the brief said. "To the extent any person understood (Rivera-Soto's) actions in any different light, (he) regrets that understanding." Rivera-Soto, the first Hispanic on the state Supreme Court, urged the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, which issued the complaint, to recommend that his colleagues on the court dismiss the matter.
If the six other justices on the state's highest court substantiate the complaint, they could remove Rivera-Soto from the bench or impose a lesser penalty, including a public reprimand, censure or suspension. No date has been set for a hearing before the committee. Rivera-Soto's lawyer, Bruce P. McMoran, on Friday requested the panel provide "all of the factual information" related to the complaint, and left open the chance to amend the reply after seeing that material.
The complaint charged that Rivera-Soto violated a court rule barring conduct "that brings the judicial office into disrepute," and three aspects of the Canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct, including one that "requires judges to avoid lending the prestige of their office to advance the private interests of others." The alleged misconduct stemmed from a series of incidents last fall between Rivera-Soto's son, a sophomore, and a senior who was the captain of the Haddonfield Memorial High School team. The justice's son said the other teen harassed and struck him, according to the panel's complaint.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.nj.com ...
I suspect this is a false charge, although there’s not enough information to be sure.
Naturally a father should come to the defense of his son if he is being bullied in school, and has every right to complain to the principal or the schoolboard if he feels that an injustice has been done.
Nothing in the article suggests that he used his official position as a judge. If the principal refused to maintain discipline and if he then spoke to influential friends about it, it’s still not clear to me that he is abusing his position as a judge. Normally that just means that a judge must recuse himself from a case if he has a personal stake in it. That doesn’t appear to be the allegation.
As you say, his crime is probably that he is a conservative in a highly liberal state.
Let’s not forget that this is the same state court that illegally and unanimously voted, Republicans and Democrats alike, to violate the New Jersey constitution and let Frank Lautenberg be put up for the senate after the deadline for substituting candidates on the ballot had expired.
Evidently even one conservative is too many for them.
Of course there is “[n]othing in the article [to] suggest that he used his official position as a judge”. The article doesn’t describe what his alleged improper actions were. The article is about Rivera-Soto’s legal response to the charges brought against him by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct (do you expect the judge to provide the newspaper with a description of his own sleazy behavior; you know, get them material describing what a sleazeball he is?). The article lists the charges; it does not provide description of what precipitated the charges.
Look, you’re free to come to any conclusion you want, but if you’re going to conclude that the judge is the victim of a left-wing smear campaign based on this article, please call me. I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Did you just sign up on FR to post this?
it could be his wife.
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